KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL 



207 



Christmas, if she says so." (I knew she 

 would not say so ; it was only a figure of 

 speech, to denote the sincerity of ray wish.) 

 The man looked in my face without moving. 

 I dare say he thought I was crazy. " Go 

 a -head," says I, " and deliver your message." 

 In two minutes he returned, smiling. " Miss 

 Lind says she won't make you wait till 

 Christmas : please sit in the parlor, she will 

 be with you in ten minutes." 



I had never seen Miss Lind. The door 

 opened. I advanced. She met me with a 

 quick step, both hands extended. I held 

 her right hand in my left, her left hand in 

 my right. Approximating as near as com- 

 mon sense would permit, and looking in her 

 face, " And this is Jenny Lind, ' said l. Re- 

 turning the look, and advancing a foot, " and 

 this is Laurie Todd," said she. She placed 

 a chair in front of the sofa. She sat on the 

 sofa, I sat on the chair. Thus we looked at 

 one another, face to face ; and thus the lan- 

 guage of her speaking eyes confirmed the 

 words which dropped from her lips. 



She remarked, she had read my history 

 (" Laurie Todd ") about three years ago in 

 Europe. She thought the description there 

 given of the baptism of Rebecca was the 

 most interesting scene she ever read in the 

 English books. She continued, " Can you 

 repeat the scene from memory ? " Says I, 

 " Death only can blot it out." " Will you 

 oblige me ? " she continued. Says T, " You 

 have seen the painting of the goddess of 

 liberty ; that is the costume which adorned 

 the person of the ladies of that period. Her 

 father had been already dead better than 

 300 days, the dress therefore was in half 

 mourning. Her hat was a small black bea- 

 ver, all the fashion at that time, the rim 

 turned up on each side, so as to have the 

 ears visible. The hair was in a broad fold, 

 resting between the shoulders, having the 

 extreme ends fastened with a pin on the 

 crown. Hers was very long and very 

 flaxen ; she was clothed in a white garment, 

 fine, neat, and clean, her neck encircled with 

 a black bracelet, and around her waist was a 

 black ribbon. The train of her garment was 

 hanging on her left arm. The thought that, 

 before another hour, the eyes of the whole 

 congregation would be fastened on her alone, 

 brought a faint blush to the cheek. When 

 she walked up the middle aisle and sat down, 

 third pew from the pulpit, I thought I never 

 had beheld anything half so lovely. Lec- 

 ture being ended, the preacher proclaimed, 

 ' Let the person present herself for baptism.' 

 She walked to the altar — a tall, slim figure, 

 straight as an Indian arrow, with a measured 

 step like a sentry on duty before the tent of 

 his general. While the minister was binding 

 the vow of God upon her heart, before the 

 whole congregation, she made the responses 



with the same thoughtful composure as if 

 none but the eye of Omnipotence was there. 

 While the minister was slowly descending 

 the fifteen steps which led from the pulpit, 

 she was untying the strings which held on 

 her hat. There she stood — her black hat in 

 one hand, a white muslin kerchief in the 

 other : her beautiful and neatly arranged 

 flaxen locks were exposed, under a blaze of 

 light. When the minister dropped the 

 water on her white, transparent brow, she 

 shut her eyes and turned her face to heaven. 

 As the crystal drops rolled down her blush- 

 ing cheeks, I thought her face shone like an 

 angel, and I swore in my heart, if it so 

 willed heaven, that nothing but death should 

 part us." 



Here Miss Lind stood up with excitement. 

 " Stop, Grant," she exclaimed ; " you ought 

 to have been a painter. You place Rebecca 

 before me." " And why not ? " said I ; 

 " perhaps her ransomed spirit is hovering 

 over that splendid Bible (pointing to the 

 centre-table), and smiling to see two kin- 

 dred spirits enjoying a foretaste of pleasures 

 so divine." " I doubt it not ; " she observed, 

 " for with Young, your English poet, I be- 

 lieve that friends departed are angels sent 

 from Heaven on errands full of love." "And 

 with Paul," I added, " they are ministering 

 angels sent to minister to the heirs of 

 salvation." 



Here we entered invisible space, and 

 soared to worlds on high. She repeated, 

 with fine pathos, a beautiful legend current 

 among the peasantry of her native moun- 

 tains. It concerned a mother, who, at the 

 dead watches in every night, visited the 

 abode of her six motherless babes, covering 

 their little hands, and smoothing their pil- 

 lows. It is a beautiful illusion. 



We spoke of the special care which God 

 takes of little children, how many instances 

 are recorded in our weekly journals of chil- 

 dren being lost in the woods for days, some- 

 times for weeks, the weather inclement, 

 the feet naked, the clothes scant, yet found 

 unhurt. They were fed on the manna from 

 heaven, and the angels muzzled the mouths 

 of the beasts of prey. 



Having read " Laurie Todd," she put 

 several explanatory questions about the yel- 

 low fever, and other scenes recorded, &c. 

 On these and similar subjects Ave conversed 

 more than an hour, without being inter- 

 rupted ; but the time of my departure was 

 at hand. We rose simultaneously. We 

 held each other's hands. We promised to 

 remember one another at our morning and 

 evening sacrifice; that God would so prepare 

 our hearts that we might meet where the 

 assembly never breaks up, where friendship 

 never ends. 



Here the fountain of the great deep was 



